Another Reason
by C.L. Lab
Summary: As Blackfire waits on Jason to get done with his latest job so they can go home, history tries to repeat itself. One shot.


**What can I say? I wrote another BlackX one shot instead of working on the chapters I should be. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.**

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There were basically two sides to Jump City: the bright, happy side where the Titans frequented with the shopping mall and video arcade; and it's darker twin, the slums where thieves and crooks slinked around, a place full of abandoned warehouses and gritty apartment complexes.

The place Blackfire was now.

She leaned back on her hands, looking up at the night sky. It's not like she particularly _wanted_ to be here, sitting on the roof of a dirty building while Jason broke into the warehouse down the block to steal the priceless jewel he had been hired to steal from master thieves. Normally when Jason went out on his heists she would either float aimlessly around Jump from dance party to dance party or stay at their apartment. But this wasn't just a regular job he had gotten. No. This was a "freakin big deal" as Jason so eloquently put it. Tonight, he wasn't stealing some crumb-sized diamond from some shady low-security jewelry store. Instead, he was being paid to steal a two million dollar diamond from a group of high-society thieves that had stolen it themselves from Australia and had brought it over here. It was so high-risk that he had almost turned down the job. Almost. That is, until he saw the amount he would be getting paid for his services.

Blackfire sighed. Jason had rolled his eyes at her insistence to just go and "hang around the general area" where he would be working tonight, but it's not like he could do anything to stop her. If she were being completely honest with herself, she didn't just come tonight because she was so worried about this particular job-Jason had done this plenty of times before, there was really nothing to worry about. No, it was more the fact that exactly three days ago he had told her about his identity. Not just taking off his mask and showing her his face-he had done that months ago.

No, this time it was his history, his past. The reason why his identity was such a secret. He had told her while staring at the place where the carpet met the wall how he had been jacking tires to take care of his sickly mother, how he Batman took him in, how Robin (_Robin_! Teen Titans Robin!) was his "brother", how he became Gotham's new Robin, how the Joker had beat him and then killed him in the explosion. How he had risen out of the Lazarus Pit to find that his father hadn't avenged him. How hurt he had been. How he had fled to Jump to see his brother and ended up stealing his suit instead. How everyone else still believed him to be in a suit in a wooden box six feet under the ground.

She had sat there, taking it all in, uncharacteristically quiet. After he was done he finally looked at her, popping his fingers and chewing his bottom lip. It was the look that he gave her that killed her. It was a hardened look of acceptance. He was accepting the fact that she was going to leave him. He expected her to leave him. To leave him like his mother and Batman and Robin to a certain degree had. He expected her to leave him after he just opened up his soul, telling her his most precious secrets. It made her want to smack him and sob at the same time.

So she did what anyone in her position would do. She kissed him. When they pulled away, he had smiled a small smile at her-not a smirk or a cocky grin; no, a real smile that she had seen on his face only a handful of times. The next day they had gone back to being sarcastic and insulting like usual, but she hadn't forgotten the look he had given her. She would never forget that look; she couldn't. She could never erase the image of his wide eyes and broken expression from her mind.

"Hurry up Jason, what's taking so long?" Blackfire muttered. It was past time for him to be done; by now they should have been back home, curled up on the couch as he told her about how he had waltzed in and stolen the diamond, stretching the truth in his favor as she rolled her eyes and placed her head on his chest.

_Boom!_ She looked up with a start to see a not-so-distant building erupt into flames, debri floating into the star-spangled sky. _What the...? _As soon as they came, the flames suddenly died down, simmering lower and lower until they were practically nonexistent. _Chemical fire. Probably some idiot making a first time meth lab_ _or something _she reasoned. Granted, it would be a pretty moronic to try and make a meth lab so close to other buildings, but then again, the slums of Jump bred a whole new level of stupid. But even this was cutting it close. It was right beside a red-brick apartment complex. _Huh. That's funny. The building Jason was breaking into was right beside the exact same complex..._her eyes widened. "No," she gasped, half-falling and half-flying through the air as the realization hit her. _Jason had been in that building. _

Just before she hit the ground, Blackfire gained control of her emotions and zoomed off towards the pile of ashes. _No no no no. Not Jason. No. This is not happening._ She hit the ground hard, barely holding control over her thoughts as she stood up, her hands shaking as she looked around. She was standing on a soot-covered concrete slab, blackened beams in a heap next to her. There was absolutely nothing but ash everywhere she looked, clouding her vision.

"X!" she called, coughing as the ash entered her mouth. "X! Where are you? This isn't funny dammit!" she cried, tripping over chunks of concrete as she stumbled blindly around, her eyes darting about wildly. _Jason can not die. Again. Not by another explosion. Not while I was so so close. Not while I could have done something. Not while everything was finally going right. Not again. He doesn't deserve this. _

"X! Please!" she half-sobbed.

"Looking for someone?" Blackfire whirled around. There, leaning lazily against the red-brick apartment complex, was a familiar masked figure. Her mouth formed his name before she walked slowly towards him, her hands shaking violently. When she reached him she stood in front of him, staring up at his masked face.

"It was a set-up-they knew I was coming all along, rigged the place with some pretty nasty explosives," Jason explained. "They underestimated me though," at this he smirked, waiting for her to roll her eyes at him and return the expression. But she remained wide-eyed and expressionless, still just staring at him. It was starting to get kinda creepy. "Kom? Sweetheart? I'm right here, look; I'm fine, I'm-" he feel silent as she reached up, hands still shaking, her fingers slowly pulling the material of his mask up. "Kom?" he whispered as she held up her hand, holding her wrist under his nose. She closed her eyes and held her breath, only letting it out when she felt his steady breathing hit her skin.

Slowly, his own gloved hand reached towards her, cradling the side of her face. "I'm right here," he whispered. She bit her lip, leaning her head against his shoulder as his arms made their way around her.

Jason knew that tonight would be one of those nights, like when he had told her about his past. They would huddle together on the bed with her face buried in his chest and her arms clenching his shoulders as she cried because she couldn't stop thinking that he was gone. And he would bury his head in her hair and close his eyes, breathing in the scent of jasmine to try and block out the images of laughing clowns wielding bloody crowbars and timers counting down to zero before It All Ended.

Jason knew that tomorrow they would go back to being snarky and flirty and devious and everything would be normal like tonight never happened. Except it did, and now there was yet another nightmare to add to her list and another reason for him to stay up staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping. Another reason for her to whisper her love before kissing him goodnight and another reason for him to be thankful that history hadn't felt like repeating itself on this particular evening.

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